


To Lay Down Your Soul

by nothingeverlost



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-09-01
Updated: 2013-09-01
Packaged: 2017-12-25 06:51:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 291
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/949998
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nothingeverlost/pseuds/nothingeverlost
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Rumpelstiltskin felt the dagger weigh down his arm, seeming far heavier than it had even seconds ago.</p>
            </blockquote>





	To Lay Down Your Soul

**Author's Note:**

> A brief thing, from a prompt. I'm kind of intrigued so there might be more.

“What a poor bargain that would be, to lay down your soul to save your bastard son. So, I ask you, what would you have me do?”

"He’s my son." Rumpelstiltskin felt the dagger weigh down his arm, seeming far heavier than it had even seconds ago. He’d heard the whispers ever since he’d returned from the war, but coming from the man who had, even for a few hours, been a friend they seemed like a physical blow. Bae was all he had. Bae was his, the only reason he had for being.

"Does it surprise you so much, Spindleshanks, to know about the other men that found their way into your wife’s bed? Men like Hordor who had every reason to know you for the coward you are?" Zoso mocked.

"No!" Rumpelstiltskin thought, at first, that it was his own primal scream that tore the night; the sound seemed to come from within. But then the dagger was torn from his loose hold and he watched in horror as it was plunged into the Dark One’s chest.

He watched the power shift from the dying man to the boy he had been so desperate to save. The boy who had lost everything.

"Bae, no." But it was too late. The eyes that looked at him were wide and dark, unfamiliar to him though no less beloved. His son, always, but forever lost to him even as he stood with blood dripping from the dagger and skin glimmering in the torchlight.

"You’re safe now, papa. Nothing can ever hurt us again." The smile Baelfire gave him was twisted and dark. Impish. Frightening. "Don’t you feel safe?"

"Never again." Rumpelstiltskin’s legs gave out and he fell to the ground. Never again.


End file.
